Tech YouTuber Splurges $40K To Buy Sealed Original iPhone — But Was It Authentic?

The sealed first-generation Apple Inc. AAPL iPhones have become a hot commodity at auctions lately, with one device selling for a record-breaking $63,000 in February and another with a “Lucky You” sticker fetching $40,320 in April.

What Happened: In a recent video posted by tech reviewer Marques Brownlee on YouTube, he made a stunning revelation about acquiring the sealed first-generation iPhone for $40,320. 

Interestingly, this amount falls on the lower end of the auction house’s estimated range, between $40,000 and $60,000.

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According to the popular YouTuber, previous buyers have fallen victim to scams where they were sold supposedly “sealed” first-gen iPhones that were actually resealed used devices.

However, he expressed confidence that the device he purchased was authentic. 

Unboxing The iPhone: To ensure the safe delivery of the valuable $40,000 contents, the iPhone was packaged in a large wooden crate upon shipping. Upon unboxing, Brownlee discovered that the crate contained the first-gen iPhone itself, its original 30-pin charger, a dock for the phone and a charging brick — a nostalgic reminder of the items that used to be included in iPhone boxes.

What is the ‘Lucky You’ Sticker: The device Brownlee bought had an upside-down “Lucky You” sticker. In the video, he said that nobody knows what it means. However, he later received confirmation from Apple that the sticker was originally used by some retail stores in 2007 as a promotional item for gift purchases. 

Watch the complete video here: 

At the time of writing, the video had been viewed by more than one million people. 

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Photo: 2007 iPhone photo by marleyPug via Shutterstock